Bitcoin Forum

Bitcoin => Hardware => Topic started by: AdrizzPlays on August 23, 2017, 07:22:25 PM



Title: Do i really need a good internet connection and a good pc to use an antminer s7?
Post by: AdrizzPlays on August 23, 2017, 07:22:25 PM
I got told that someone heard a long time ago that a miner needed rhe best connection and the best pc to run his miners? Is that true?


Title: Re: Do i really need a good internet connection and a good pc to use an antminer s7?
Post by: VRobb on August 23, 2017, 08:05:36 PM
Good, constant internet connection? Yes.  Good pc?  Not really, you communicate to the miner via a web browser interface so I set mine up using a tablet.


Title: Re: Do i really need a good internet connection and a good pc to use an antminer s7?
Post by: QuintLeo on August 23, 2017, 08:30:00 PM
You need a RELIABLE internet connection, it doesn't need to be high-speed.

 You only need a computer that can use a browser to set up the S7, it runs ITSELF with a built-in small computer.



Title: Re: Do i really need a good internet connection and a good pc to use an antminer s7?
Post by: leowonderful on August 24, 2017, 01:26:29 AM
You can run miners on dial-up or satellite connections, the worst that could happen is going to be stale shares and possibly more invalid and rejected, consistent internet is the big factor. You only need a web accessible device to connect to the miner to configure it and you'll be good to go for the most part. Don't forget to check up on your miner every now and then to make sure nothing is going wrong.


Title: Re: Do i really need a good internet connection and a good pc to use an antminer s7?
Post by: QuintLeo on August 24, 2017, 11:43:54 PM
You can run miners on dial-up or satellite connections, the worst that could happen is going to be stale shares and possibly more invalid and rejected, consistent internet is the big factor. You only need a web accessible device to connect to the miner to configure it and you'll be good to go for the most part. Don't forget to check up on your miner every now and then to make sure nothing is going wrong.

 I've never run my mining farm on dialup - that MIGHT be pushing bandwidth limits a LITTLE for a largish farm but should be fine for just a few mining rigs.

 I did run it for a few years on a very poor quality Virgin Mobile 3G cell connection, that hit 400kbps on a GOOD wee hours of the night and was usually more like 150-200, no issues.
 I did run it for 2 years on an Exede sat connection (which was a MAJOR UPGRADE from the 3G except SOMETIMES on lag), the 650-700ms ALL THE TIME lag cost less than 1% in stale shares on Litecoin or Ethereum mining and wasn't noticeable on Bitcoin mining.
 Exede was metered, but I normally used less than 100 megs a day and that was INCLUDING online gaming and web browsing, NOT just mining (Game PATCHES were sometimes an issue).




Title: Re: Do i really need a good internet connection and a good pc to use an antminer s7?
Post by: kkeylb on August 25, 2017, 12:13:44 AM
I wonder if a rasberry pi is good enough as a computer. You guys already said the computer specs don't really matter, just the internet connection. I'll have to research on that later.


Title: Re: Do i really need a good internet connection and a good pc to use an antminer s7?
Post by: leowonderful on August 25, 2017, 01:02:28 AM
You can run miners on dial-up or satellite connections, the worst that could happen is going to be stale shares and possibly more invalid and rejected, consistent internet is the big factor. You only need a web accessible device to connect to the miner to configure it and you'll be good to go for the most part. Don't forget to check up on your miner every now and then to make sure nothing is going wrong.

 I've never run my mining farm on dialup - that MIGHT be pushing bandwidth limits a LITTLE for a largish farm but should be fine for just a few mining rigs.

 I did run it for a few years on a very poor quality Virgin Mobile 3G cell connection, that hit 400kbps on a GOOD wee hours of the night and was usually more like 150-200, no issues.
 I did run it for 2 years on an Exede sat connection (which was a MAJOR UPGRADE from the 3G except SOMETIMES on lag), the 650-700ms ALL THE TIME lag cost less than 1% in stale shares on Litecoin or Ethereum mining and wasn't noticeable on Bitcoin mining.
 Exede was metered, but I normally used less than 100 megs a day and that was INCLUDING online gaming and web browsing, NOT just mining (Game PATCHES were sometimes an issue).



I never assumed we were talking about farms here, but I actually tried using a couple miners on Dial-Up and it worked just fine. The losses you'll incur running such connections are minor in most cases like you mentioned either way, and dial up CAN be had for free or very cheap in many areas in the US and possibly Canada.


I wonder if a rasberry pi is good enough as a computer. You guys already said the computer specs don't really matter, just the internet connection. I'll have to research on that later.
As long as you can use a browser or even SSH to whatever IP the miner is running on, or you can open CGminer/BFGminer to run a USB-connected miner, it will work. For Bitmain devices, remember that the default login is root:root.


Title: Re: Do i really need a good internet connection and a good pc to use an antminer s7?
Post by: QuintLeo on August 25, 2017, 07:00:30 PM
I wonder if a rasberry pi is good enough as a computer. You guys already said the computer specs don't really matter, just the internet connection. I'll have to research on that later.

 You're missing the point.

 The S7 already HAS a computer built into it (something similar to a Pi, if not an actual Pi) - you don't need a seprate computer to run it with AT ALL.

 The only thing you need a computer for is to run a browser to go into the "web site" control on the S7 to set it up.